Day 48-49, Mile Marker 558, Mojave (Zero Days)

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Zero Day in Mojave

Post By Melissa:
Today was a lazy and semi-productive day.  Nick was pretty tired from hiking the 40 miles from Hikertown to Mojave during a 24hr period so I helped him get his laundry done and worked on the blog for a bit while he rested in the hotel room.  I had picked up some healthy snacks the day before since we had a mini fridge in our room.  I layed out some goodies in bed for Nick so he could snack, watch TV, and relax in bed.  It was nice to be back together again.

Guacamole, Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Veggie Tray, and Pita Chips

After resting most of the day we decided to get ourselves ready to have a nice dinner.  It was nearly 8pm and we knew we better get moving. We were using Yogi's PCT guidebook (2011 version) to search for ideas and were sad to see that many of the restaurants she had suggested were out of business in 2013.  We didn't want fast food so our choices were limited.  In the parking lot another hotel guest suggested we try this place near the Stater Brother's grocery store.  We headed over there and were bummed to see it had just closed.  The other diner nearby that promoted juicy burgers and amazing milkshakes was also closed...hum...what to do.  We proceeded to cruise down the main road in Mojave in search of food.  Finally we saw a small Mexican food restaurant and pulled in.  We were happy to see they were still open.  This restaurant also made pizzas and the one server on duty had to take off to go make a pizza delivery...he told us to hang tight for 15 minutes and he'd be back.  It was kind of funny but we were hungry and eager to place our order.  Nearby there were a few other men eating and I was shocked to see how many beer bottles they had piled up on their tables.  Each man must of drank 10 beers each. There were bottles everywhere.  I'm surprised they were able to drive home!

Eventually the server returned from his pizza delivery and we were able to place our order.  I of course ordered my favorite dish of carne asada and bacon wrapped prawns.  The food was actually pretty tasty and we learned that people would drive from far away to frequent this small mexican restaurant.  It was a nice treat.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and prompty went to bed!


Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Zero Day in Mojave

Post By Melissa:
Happy Anniversary!! Today we are celebrating our dating anniversary of 3 years.  Mojave isn't exactly the most romantic spot in the world, but hey...you have to make the best of the situation.  I had picked up some flowers and a card for Nick while he was on the trail and gave them to him this morning.  Surprisingly I was able to find a very cute card at Stater Brothers (grocery store).

Nick enjoyed them both and offered to treat me to breakfast for my anniversary gift :-)

We decided to not be so lazy today and actually get some chores done as well so we got ready and jumped in the rental car and headed towards Lancaster. We searched on our phones for a place to have breakfast and found a nice diner that was also serving bloody marys.  Cheers!!

After a yummy breakfast we headed to a sporting goods store to buy a few things.  I wanted a new shirt and Nick needed some new chums for his sunglasses.  We were both able to find what we needed and then we headed back towards Mojave after hitting the Starbucks drive through for some icy cold coffee drinks (Yum!).  We needed to run by the post office again because our 2nd resupply box had just arrived.  I waited in the car while Nick ran into the post office.  It was a hot day.  As you can see in the photo below it was 97 degrees at nearly 4pm!  I was glad to not be hiking this day...

Nick with our 2nd resupply box!

After we left the Post Office we headed back to the grocery store to grab a few more things to supplement our resupply plan.

Dinner?! We went back and forth on what to do for our anniversary dinner.  Mojave didn't have much to offer but we thought we'd try that suggestion next to Stater Bros that we missed the night before.  When we got there it was open this time but I was disappointed with the offerings.  It looked like a low end Chipotle and I told Nick it was a no go.  I didn't want to spend our 3 year anniversary eating crappy food. We walked out and jumped back into the rental car and I drove us over to Tehachapi for some Thai food.  It was actually pretty good and we were glad we were able to see a little of Tehachapi.  In hindsight we wish we would have chosen Tehachapi instead of Mojave to take a few zero days in...but in the end it all worked out :-)

Once we arrived back at our hotel we each soaked our feet in Epsom salt and then called it a night.  Tomorrow we would be back on the trail!